Ohgr: Hoof & Mouth Disease: It's Genocide!

03/27/01 4:30pm

by Matt Mernagh (CHARTattack)

There are plenty of left-leaning bands with outspoken ideology, but when it comes to articulate debate very few of them can measure up and speak intelligently like Ohgr.

It's easy for Marilyn Manson or Megadeth to denounce the Republicans, or encourage people to live as they please, but when it comes to putting that dogma to disc many of today's artists are coming up short. Then there's Ogre, who some may know as one of the founding members of Skinny Puppy, a collaborator with KMFDM, a genius who literally had about 32 per cent responsibility for "shock rock/industrial" genre.

When listening to his recorded output you know that the person who created it whether it be his latest opus, Welt, or any of the Skinny Puppy albums, that the music comes from within their very being.

"I always wanted to work through my problems [with my music.]," he explains from his home in L.A. "But in this day and age it's all about branding. There's this idea of making Oghr and turning him into something else. Abstracting it further and making it into a brand, but there is tongue in cheek there. I am trying to attach myself to the system."

One would think Ogre would make a great brand. His performance art on stage makes Manson look simple. He's staunchly politically and is passionate about animals. Why not turn that into a brand?

"Yeah, but there's the motivational factor behind it. There's integrity and idealism that I didn't want to brand myself or sell a brand. It's a really weird thing. Over the last five years that's what hindered me, even though I pathetically can't do anything else in my life or wouldn't want to. The idea of conforming to the marketplace has never been my ideal."

This partly explains why Welt took so long to be finally released. He has spent the last five years adjusting not only the album, but his opinions and discovering what he'd like to do with his career/life. Even Ogre has to face the reality of balancing creativity with economic reality. Anyone who thinks that Skinny Puppy set him up for life, doesn't really understand Ogre or the financial realities of the music industry.

Would teenagers who listen to shock-industrial-rock take to Ogre as a character, much like how they adore Manson for being a persona of Brian Warner? Well if they can wrap their heads around this discussion on the outbreak of Hoof & Mouth disease and the resulting American isolationism stemming from it, then they're ready for the music.

"I think it's horrendous. I'm a bit skeptical of news media right now and their shift to the right with this isolationist President, who is just in the background spouting propaganda and almost reading off cue-cards. The amount of foreign policy that has gone awry in the last couple of weeks... where we're heading it almost seems like this stuff has been happening for a while, but it seems the media is just bringing it out. I don't want to be a warmonger, but where we're heading [it's] like, financially we need a war."

He goes on to explain, "I'm not defending Western Europe meat producers, but I was reading on the internet the American decision not to import beef is hurting them [financially]. You can see America is isolating itself. I'm curious as to why they are doing that. It just seems at this space and time that there needed to be a right wing guard of the '80s coming in to either clean things up, start things or just create a mood where there is so much fear that some isolated event can become a big issue."

From a historical perspective both World Wars started over an isolated event that grew larger. One lead-up to the cause World War I was the assassination of Archduke Ferdinad of Austria. World War II was actually an extension of World War I as that war never really ended as it came to a conclusion because the flu epidemic. The American stock-market crash of Oct. 29, 1929 and the election of Adolf Hitler in September 14, 1930 were two of the triggers that got the ball rolling for WWII. It wasn't until the invasion of Poland by Germany and Britain's decision to defend that country that the world became engulfed in war.

What does a history lesson, animal lips and hoofs falling off, and the slaughter of cows have to do with the music on Welt? Well, the person who created this music is greatly aware of these issues and is affected, just like we all are on some level, by the world's problems.

"As far as the animals are concerned, it's genocide. I'm not sure how hoof and mouth works, but Mad Cow is a man made disease. It started back with Cannibal culture and that's where this was first discovered. It crossed over when pigs were fed chicken and cows fed pigs, but it's totally preventable. Our whole culture accepts genetically modified foods."

While there's no song on Welt dealing with the plight of the slaughtered animals, oHgr says, "It's always been connected to me." He has dealt with animal rights in depth on just about every Skinny Puppy album, but even though he doesn't delve into world politics, he's always presented an interesting opinion on that as well. That's is part of who he is.

"Getting back to foot and mouth, I know we are pissing off everybody. The Russians are pissed off. The Chinese are pissed off. I think global terrorism is an internal process. You're not going to know what's real. It's really going to be the internet in real time. There are tons of building explosions in L.A. Was that a faulty building or an act of terrorism that has been dumbed down? I don't know anymore."

Of course, the solution to all the world's problems and specifically hoof and mouth, mad cow and the host of other ailments affecting the cattle industry is genetically altering the cows so that they can't have these diseases. Ogre laughs at this suggestion, but says, "When we genetically alter a cow and they say they don't have those problems anymore...[laughter]"

He might not be able to solve the world's problems, but he has had a hand in creating the soundtrack.